Regigigas, The Colossal Pokémon. There is an enduring legend that states this Pokémon towed continents with ropes.

Overview

Regigigas is an unfortunate Pokémon with little usability. For a 'legend', with stats becoming of a legend, it falls far into the rankings of obscurity. There isn't a question about it, the standalone reason for this obscurity is its ability. Slaking is an example of a Pokémon hindered by its ability, but Regigigas is flat-out crippled by its ability.

Slow Start halves Regigigas's Speed and Attack for five turns, making both of those stats fall well below average until it wears off. An extra slap in the face is that Regigigas lacks the most rudimentary of stalling tools to make that time pass. Rest and Protect are both denied to it, so Regigigas can only fall back on Substitute and para-fusion to fulfil its stalling needs.

Overlooking Regigigas's crippling ability, it does have some positives worth singling out. It has great defensive stats, carrying Base 110 HP, Defence and Special Defence stats. It also packs Knock Off and Thunder Wave, both being pretty useful support moves. Its ability to perform as a defensive Pokémon is hampered by a lack of resistances or a recovery move, but it has the raw stats to make it possible.

Slow Start keeps Regigigas out of the running of ever becoming an OU Standard, whilst its raw Base Stats keep it from being relegated to the Underused environment. Unless Platinum brings with it special new treats for Regigigas, it'll be permanently stuck in the Border-Line tier.

Ability

Slow Start: halves Regigigas's Speed and Attack for five turns. The “five turn counter” resets every time Regigigas switches, so the ability will only wear off when Regigigas is out for five successive turns (and of course, it'll restart if Regigigas switches out after it has worn off).

Much like Slaking, Regigigas can be saved in 2v2 play. Gastro Acid, Worry Seed and Skill Swap will remove Slow Start and its associated effects, making Regigigas a viable choice for Double Battles when paired with an adequate partner.

As mentioned in the overview, Regigigas can use its natural bulk and disruptive move-pool to decent effect.

Knock Off is a very useful move, depriving its opposition of their items. At the best of times, Knock Off will hamper your opponent's strategy. Choice Pokémon deprived of their Choice items are the most obvious examples. In most situations, you'll simply cause a nuisance by depriving a Pokémon of their Leftovers recovery, lowering their bulk and possibly exposing them to damaging weather effects.

Regigigas has two status attacks to pick from. Thunder Wave brings its opposition to a screeching halt, compensating for Slow Start quite nicely and crippling most sweepers. The additional 25% chance of 'full paralysis' has some stalling value as well, since it's another valuable turn that'll go by freely. Alternatively, it has Toxic, which'll ruin most defensive walls.

Regigigas is rather weak offensively, but it has little else to fill its final two move-slots, and no Pokémon wants to be without a direct means to cause damage. Return offers it STAB, whilst Earthquake covers Normal-resistant Rock and Steel types. These two aren't its only offensive options, and it's worth noting that special attacks are equally as viable as physical attacks, since Regigigas's Slow Start Attack stat is equal to its Special Attack.

Regigigas hits the magic 404 HP stat, giving it 101 HP Substitutes. These are notable because they can't be broken by Seismic Toss, giving Regigigas an easy time setting up against the ever-common Blissey. As an extra touch of fortune, Substitute does serve something of a stalling purpose, giving this move-set a good chance of lasting the full five turns and escaping the shackles of Regigigas's ability.

The Sub-Punch strategy is pretty simple. Find a way to set-up a Substitute and then throw Focus Punches the opposition's way, safe in the knowledge that you can't be flinched with the Substitute absorbing their offences. As previously mentioned, 101 Subs mean Blissey is an easy target to set-up against.

Return gives Regigigas STAB, as well as a consistent damaging move to use when there isn't a Substitute protecting it. Thunder stops Skarmory from raining on your parade, and the additional 30% paralysis is rather useful, both for stalling purposes and for generally slowing down the opposition.

This move-set is entirely based around the idea of relieving Regigigas of its ability. Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave provide its best stalling combination, inflicting upon its opponent the ever frustrating para-fusion strategy. It's a strategy that simply works off of percentages. The opponent has to fight through a 50% chance of being confused, and then afterwards a 25% chance of being fully paralysed. Obviously, the fact that confusion can be shed via switching is something of a flaw in the strategy, but to Regigigas's benefit, a switch means another turn freely goes by. Entry hazards and the threat of placing another Pokémon under paralysis further serve to discourage the opponent from switching.

After stalling out those five long turns, Regigigas can begin sweeping. Return and Earthquake is its most obvious offensive combination, although it's a combination that's stopped by Skarmory, Bronzing and Gengar (three very common Pokémon), so Regigigas will require its team-mate's aid to deal with those opponents.

EVs and Nature:

Slow Start causes some complications when EVing. The Attack and Speed drop applies to Attack and Speed EVs as well, so it will take 8 EVs to raise them by one point (as opposed to the usual 4). As a result, EVs in those stats can be rather wasteful, and that's always worth keeping in mind when setting Regigigas's EVs.

Defensive - Support / Disruption
Max HP is the usual starting point. From there, Regigigas can have balanced defensive stats, achieving around 300 in both (using its nature to compensate for one stat receiving fewer EVs). If you intend to use physical and special attacks on the same move-set, a Speed-lowering nature would be preferable.

Sub-Punch
In order to achieve 404 HP (assuming a 31 HP IV), Regigigas will require 172 HP EVs. Obviously, achieving that 404 HP stat is the priority, to allow it Substitutes that won't be broken by Seismic Toss. After accounting for its HP, Regigigas can viably max its Attack (despite suffering from Slow Start), spending the remaining EVs on its Special Attack.

Para-fusion Staller
This move-set is chancing on Regigigas outlasting the effects of Slow Start, and so, Attack and Speed EVs aren't a waste here. HP can take priority over its Speed if you wish to optimise Regigigas's survivability, since it will almost certainly have to survive offences during those five turns.

Thunderbolt is an alternative to Thunder (both of which are viable move to use on the defensive move-set). Like Thunder, it does considerable damage to Skarmory, but with better accuracy for less damage (and less paralysis chance).

Regigigas has access to all of the elemental punches. Fire Punch and Thunderpunch are better off as 'sweeper' moves, i.e. when it has outlasted Slow Start. Both are preferable for covering Skarmory, with Fire Punch also being good for Bronzong and Thunderpunch being good for Gyarados. Ice Punch is usable during Slow Start, doing good damage when hitting at 4x weaknesses. Avalanche is an Ice Punch alternative, doing considerably more damage when Regigigas takes a hit first, but a bit less when Regigigas doesn't.

Zen Headbutt is mainly useful for hitting Gengar. Super-effective hits on Machamp, Heracross and Weezing are nice, but only a little stronger than a STAB Return.

Drain Punch is the closest thing Regigigas has to a recovery move. As the name implies, it 'drains' the opponent's HP and returns it to Regigigas. To be more precise, it recovers half of the damage Regigigas inflicts. As a Base 60 Attack, it doesn't do all that much damage, and therefore doesn't return a lot of HP. 4x hits on Tyranitar and Weavile are notable occasions where it does good enough damage, and super-effective hits on Blissey are pretty meaty too, but otherwise, the move has questionable worth.

Focus Blast, Icy Wind and Hyper Beam round-out the rest of its special move-pool. Focus Blast packs a lot of power, but is low on accuracy. The super-effective hits on Normal-resistant Rock and Steel types is always welcomed. Icy Wind is low on power, but has the ever useful Ice coverage, and a useful Speed-lowering side-effect. Hyper Beam gets STAB, giving it enough power to be treated as a last-ditch 'suicide move', comparable to Selfdestruct and Explosion. Obviously, it'd be foolish to treat it like a special Return, since it would be very inadvisable to use it without the acceptance that Regigigas is likely to picked off during its recharge turn.

Safeguard is the only support move it has that hasn't already been mentioned. It blocks statuses, and lasts five turns, remaining for its team-mates if Regigigas switches.

Rock Polish can compensate for Regigigas's poor Speed when it's suffering from Slow Start, and will set it ahead of most opponents when Slow Start wears off. Being a sweeper-oriented stat boost, and being that Regigigas is a very poor sweeper during Slow Start, it isn't hugely useful for most occasions.

Regigigas has enough moves at its disposal to sling together a usable Choice Specs move-set. Since its Special Attack doesn't suffer during Slow Start, it isn't hindered with Choice Specs. Regigigas can be treated like a slow and bulky special attacker, but its Special Attack is below average by the standards of the OU environment.

Choice Band is less viable than Choice Specs, since even its Attack EVs will suffer during Slow Start. A Choice Band Regigigas's Attack caps out at a meagre 345. It does have enough moves to put together a viable Choice Band move-set, but its move-pool lacks anything special to set it apart from other Normal-typed Choice Banders.

Crush Grip is Regigigas's signature move, but it isn't worth using. Against an opponent with 100% of their HP, it has 110 Base Power (prior to STAB), a minor 8 points ahead of Return. Crush Grip loses power as the opponent's HP percentage lowers. So basically, it's inconsistent, and at the best of times its damage is only a little better than Return's. I'm only giving it a mention so I can say “Don't use it.” Some Pokémon get good signature moves, but Regigigas isn't one of them.

Countering Regigigas

In most situations, Regigigas will have below average offensive stats. With Slow Start, its Attack stat maxes at a meagre 230. Its Special Attack maxes at a more respectable 284, but lacks the backing of a reliable STAB move. Over-all, the biggest threats posed by Regigigas come in the form of Thunder Wave paralysis and Knock Off.

With Thunder Wave in mind, counters consist mainly of those immune or indifferent to Thunder Wave. Electivire sees Thunder Wave as a free Speed boost, and it can make short work of Regigigas with super-effective Cross Chops. Garchomp is immune to Thunder Wave, and sees Regigigas as a free opportunity to throw up as many Swords Dances as practicality will allow. Machamp and Heracross see Thunder Wave as an Attack boost, activating Guts in exchange for their Speed. Gyarados can Taunt Thunder Wave and set-up Dragon Dances, but needs to be wary of the occasional Thunder/bolt. Aside from Garchomp, there are plenty of other OU Ground-types who can deal with it: Gliscor, Rhyperior, Donphan, Hippowdon, Mamoswine and Swampert.

The usual Return-Earthquake combination is resisted by Skarmory and Bronzong, who'll both see Regigigas as an opportunity to use their support moves. Even when Regigigas sheds Slow Start, that combination doesn't pose much of a threat to them. Gengar and Mismagius are immune to both moves, but have a healthy fear of Thunder Wave (although that fear can be alleviated by using Taunt, a move available to both).

Dusknoir, Spiritomb and Weezing can all burn Regigigas with Will-o-Wisp, crippling it even when it overcomes Slow Start. All three are exposed to Thunder Wave, but won't show too much concern over it.

If Regigigas starts to approach the end of Slow Start, you can always pseudo-haze it with Roar or Whirlwind, forcing it out of play and resetting the 'five turn counter'.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Not in Game

Colosseum/XD

Not in Game

Fire Red/Leaf Green

Not in Game

Diamond/Pearl

Snowpoint Temple

Animé Appearences

Regigigas has had a single Animé Appearence. In it, it appears as Giratina & Dialga fight, causing trouble in both the Reverse World and the normal world. It is seen with other Pokémon to try and resolve it